Ten Commandments of Office Etiquette

Ten Commandments of Office Etiquette

Thou Shalt Not ... Chew and pop gum loudly, or at all during staff meetings and customer interactions.

See also: Eight Ways to Make a Great First Impression. Proper office etiquette often comes down to common sense and common courtesy, but people still have questions. Is it OK to tend to your personal grooming if the cubicle walls are high enough to shield you from view? When food sits in a shared office refrigerator, is it appropriate to consider it a communal resource (meaning yours to swipe)? And what kind of impression does the multi-tattooed look really project upon co-workers, bosses and customers? Clearly, there are a number of sticky scenarios for which interpretations run the gamut. So to help you navigate the sensibilities of co-workers, we came up with Ten Commandments concerning commonly-observed behaviors. While it’s not likely that anyone would get fired for these kinds of lapses, it’s best to avoid them if you want to present yourself as a considerate, professional work colleague. We compiled our list through websites such as experience.com and A-to-Z-of-Manners-and-Etiquette.com, and we’re sure that many of them sound painfully familiar to anyone who works in an office. See also: Embarassing Office Moments.